Scientists discover a way to focus light through paper

In the distant future private investigators may no longer need to peep through the cut-out holes in their newspapers, thanks to researchers at the ESPCI in Paris, who have discovered a way to see through various opaque materials.

By studying the way light passed through a layer of zinc oxide -- a substance commonly found in white paints -- scientists were able to compile a complex numerical model that details the way zinc oxide affects the light. The data gathered, totalling more than 65,000 numbers and known as a transmission matrix, can then be analysed to help create a beam of light able to pass through objects such as paper or sugar cubes, and emerge focused at a point on the other side.

A similar study, conducted several years ago by researchers at the University of Twente, revealed that there are open channels within opaque objects that allow light to pass through providing the light transmitted has been manipulated to allow its passage. The study also revealed that the possibilities for transmission through an opaque object remains independent of the thickness of the material.

The team from the ESPCI have built upon this research, and it is now hoped that once a detailed enough transmission matrix is compiled opaque materials could be used as optical elements that function in the same manner as traditional lenses.

This development could pave the way for the use of opaque materials in nano-scale devices to replace regular lenses that may be too difficult or impractical to manufacture. Sadly Superman-like X-ray vision is still far from becoming a reality, and the P.I may have to keep his holey copy of the Financial Times for a while yet.